Bright Night City Lights

[Trillian]

continued from Host

The sky was clear and the moon full, though its radiance was overpowered by the glow of the city itself - every streetlight, shop light, building light seemed to be turned on.  The patterns of random lights on and off within the bigger buildings looked like morse code, and once they got to the shopping district and music was blaring, Ben found himself immersed in a kind of light show.  Coloured lamps were being projected from glass floor tiles peppered among the paved brick avenue, or were not-so-discreetly hung from permanent sails from posts to buildings.  The open-air mall was a pretty place to be at night and Ben was easily enchanted by it.

He was big on people watching, his gaze flitting from person to person, assessing their style and clothing.  He didn\'t spend too long gazing at those who chose run-of-the-mill fashions, but those that seemed to attract more stares than merely his own.

He and Kerr walked together, with Ben trying unsuccessfully to suppress the urge to talk.  It had been a long time between conversation though, so he found himself saying much more than he thought he should - usually regretting speaking after the comment was made.  Most things were inane and spoken quietly and grammatically correct, though he\'d begun to use a few contractions here and there as though he\'d begun to pick them up into his language.  His conversation began to pick up speed once he spied a men\'s clothing shop, based on the well-dressed mannequins in the window.

He was initially after only one item - an overcoat that would reach the back of his calves when on, the fabric was plush and the lining a combination of silk and fur.  The single item was worth over two grand but Ben didn\'t even bother looking at the price tag, too busy admiring himself in the mirror with it about his shoulders.  He allowed the shop assistant to bring a suit to him to try, which went beautifully with the coat, but once it was on him Ben rejected it with a \'too boring\' comment.  The suit that came next was a mixture of youthful and old-fashioned, though still not meeting eccentric levels.  Ben seemed delighted with it and once he had it on and the coat upon him, the smile that met Kerr was dazzling.

The next shop was filled with a more modern streak - a mixture of casual and club wear.  Ben ended up having much of a spree in that shop, selecting such things as black leather pants, electrically coloured shirts, lots of colours and patterns, and ratty jeans.  Once again he allowed the shop assistant to run about the shop on his behalf, trying on almost everything that was handed to him and giving Kerr a kind of speedy fashion show.  That\'s much what it looked like, with Ben darting in and out.  He wanted feedback from Kerr on every piece and his gaze roamed the shop to see if anyone was looking at him.  If someone\'s gaze found him and lingered, the item was always a definite, otherwise it was in the maybe pile with his own assessment or Kerr\'s comment to be considered.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr was in mourning, every bright item - as attractive as it was and actually suited Ben - a dagger in his heart.  This was not the boy he\'d fallen in love with, he was sure of it now, but where that boy was scared him shitless to contemplate.  Had the demon possessed Ben\'s body or had he obliterated the person that he used to be?  Could Ben\'s persona still be salvagable somehow or was he going to be stuck for eternity (though he couldn\'t see that happening... a week at most) with... this?

A pretty peacock who demanded, never asked, thought only about himself and the impact he had on those around him, that\'s what this Ben appeared to be, with his roving eye and assured strut.  Every time he disappeared behind the curtain to try on something new, Kerr\'s heart bled agony into his chest, berating him for allowing this to happen... somehow - before he quickly smothered those feelings in time to give an opinion about another inane item of clothing.  It was torture and he couldn\'t have cared less about what the body before him was swathed in, for he was now convinced it wasn\'t his Ben.

It had to have happened with the necklace... but what had happened?  The only conclusion Kerr\'s whirling thoughts could eventually offer up to him was that removing the necklace might bring about some answers.  He wasn\'t sure whether trying that in public or private was the best recourse - it was getting harder and harder to keep up the act of his interest while his thoughts were in a spin and he was contemplating the utter loss of Ben, though.  There was a familiarity to such feelings, having just recovered from a breakup he\'d believed final, but knowing that this did seem to be an end - and that neither of them had had a say in it - made it different this time.

He forced an attitude change upon himself, pushing his acting abilities to another level and leering progressively as each new item of clothing was presented.  In fact, the more he found he told himself to act lustfully and appreciate what he was seeing, the easier it became (living with Sawyl for four hundred year had had benefits to it after all).  He moved from nodding to smiling, to smiling appreciatively, to nodding and smiling, to reaching out to touch briefly, to touching more and more and lingeringly.  It wasn\'t hard to fake interest in the body before him, for it wasn\'t fake - what was hard was keeping his thoughts to a minimum and his physical reactions emphasised.

Eventually, there was an outfit he found truly beautiful and Kerr made his move, touching and smiling before embracing Ben, reaching around to squeeze his ass pointedly.  "Mmm, I like this one," he murmured, smirking down at his fledgling before flicking a deliberate glance to the dressing room behind him, "makes me think of doing all sorts of naughty things to you."

Like dragging you into the dressing room so I can ge that necklace the fuck off you sooner rather than later.

[Trillian]

The overt sexuality of the phrase and the shock of hearing it said to him had Ben blustering his response.  He never got past the stammer, obviously uncomfortable with the concept of Kerr pawing him - which was strange considering how physically clinging he\'d been.  He hadn\'t entertained this, the possibility of Kerr wanting to use the body that Ben had ownership of.  He was now out of his element and moving quickly ahead of Kerr into the dressing room before he got his hand up, palm out.

"Not here," he said, his order implying that there might be another time for them.  The look Ben threw Kerr was imperious yet anxious.  He was conflicted, knowing what little he knew of the other vampire through hazy memories that he wouldn\'t be interested in anything of the sort.  Ben had planned on getting away to experiment on the city\'s inhabitants at great length, but the facade he was keeping with Kerr was comforting - like a home, a stable environment that he could learn things in.

He stared at Kerr, assessing the vampire, trying to read what was on the other\'s mind by what was in his face.  Tentatively, he reached out mental fingers in an attempt to deduce what was going on in his mind.  The boy had powers of a kind, he knew, it made sense that with access to this body he could access the boy\'s powers.  Perhaps even some of his own.

What he didn\'t understand at this point was, because he was inhabiting a body in a way that wasn\'t regular, the only powers he could access were Ben\'s fledgling powers.  He could use them to their maximum level, and they far surpassed what Ben had been able to tap into, but they were still fledgling-strength powers, as though Ben had learned everything to its full potential, and only age would make them more potent.  Kerr would feel the mental questioning, and would recognise it for what it was and who it was, and could block it easily, if he wanted to.

[Existentially Odd]

Although instinct told the sire to recoil from his fledgling\'s probing

because he\'s NOT my-
Shut up, concentrate!  You want him!  Show him!

he also realised that it was pivotal he keep his act up.  The connection felt... not stronger, but... clearer somehow.  Still, it was the same blood bond communication that he usually experienced and he knew his misgivings would give him away before he even got a chance to test his theories if he wasn\'t strictly controlled right now.

"Aw," he pouted, looking Ben over with twinkling eyes and showing the questing fingers sneaking about his head a lurid slideshow of he and Ben\'s most intimate moments.  Mixed in was what he envisioned could happen if he were allowed to play here, in the dressing room - a slow undressing of Ben from the new clothes, kisses placed wherever flesh was revealed when cloth was peeled away, hunger and yearning (but no really graphic details such as sucking or fucking).  Thankfully, his desire was genuine, his memories solid and his concerns buried deeply beneath both.

"You sure?" he entreated, taking another testing step closer to Ben, to see if his mental images had swayed the recipient in any way.  He kept his gaze locked on the blonde\'s face - his eyes especially - and didn\'t entertain any more thoughts about the necklace.

[Trillian]

The images weren\'t any that Ben shied from.  He was pensive upon seeing them, his own desire for being close to someone - for hadn\'t he spent an eternity alone, unable to touch anyone, only watching whenever he had a slightly stronger hold? - beginning to sway him.  Kerr\'s mental visual stimulus had an effect on Ben as he stood in the dressing room, enough for him to lower his hand.

"Not so much," he said finally.  No, he wasn\'t sure he didn\'t want anything to happen anymore.  Kerr hid himself well enough to have sold the idea of physical interaction.  Ben had been aching to be close to someone, what could be closer than this?  A sultry smile crept onto his lips, even though there was hesitation in his gaze.

[Existentially Odd]

God, that smile...

It wasn\'t right that this creature before him could look like that and yet not be who he wanted him to be... he didn\'t think... it was too confusing.  Going with his act was just easier and he returned the beautiful smile with one of his own as he stepped in closer to Ben and dropped fluidly to his knees.

Really, it would\'ve been perfectly acceptable for Ben to refuse any sort of intimacy here and now, not just because he was always rather prudish but because they hadn\'t been intimate in months.  The \'real\' Ben wouldn\'t want their first step back along that path to happen in a public dressing stall, though Kerr - the Kerr who\'d trusted and been enraptured and thoroughly deceived during the peak of their relationship, anyway - wouldn\'t say no.

Still, he had no intention of doing anything too outrageous, for if he thought about the fact that he was interacting with the demon, not his lover, it caused his stomach to flip-flop and his skin to prickle in a most distasteful manner.  No, best to take it easy, play around a little and lull the blonde into thinking he had no designs on anything outlandish.

"Well, perhaps I\'d better help you make up your mind," he murmured, looking up at Ben as he lifted the hem of the shirt before his eyes, pressing flat, spread palms upon Ben\'s flat stomach and sliding the lot up to his ribs.  He then leaned forward and touched soft, loving kisses to the skin between the waistband of the leather pants he was wearing

what is it with the leather pants?

and his belly button.  He followed the line of the pants with increasing eagerness, moving across Ben\'s belly (teasing with proximity but not interested in being gauche) before his lips moved upward.

His plan was to slowly push the shirt ahead of his mouth, using both hands while he licked and kissed Ben\'s torso.  He would have to stand once he wanted to reach his chest properly and then he would make his move on the necklace - hopefully Ben would react favourably to his attentions and between having a shirt bunched around his neck and his arms immobilised by same, Kerr would be able to subtly murmur about \'taking this off\' - and go for the necklace, rather than the shirt.

The plan was the best he could come up with now and although he anticipated a protest, he didn\'t think it would be too bad (given that all these thoughts were buried so deeply, it was easy to lose perspective and fail to predict dangerous consequences, though).  He would also have a facade of innocence to fall back on, should he be rejected and make Ben angry when he tried to get the necklace off - it was caught up in the shirt and he only trying to untangle it... right?

[Trillian]

Ben watched avidly as Kerr approached, an eyebrow twitching as the other vampire lowered himself to his knees and expecting something a little more direct and different to what he got.  The caresses were more erotic and just as pleasing, making his body pulse and his eyelids drift halfway closed with heady intoxication.  The sensation of hands and lips upon his stomach and chest was mesmerising as he watched Kerr move his hands upward while the kisses remained in a line where they were.

Indeed Kerr\'s plan worked well until the point the shirt began to bunch around the necklace, for Ben felt the two begin to lock together and figured it would only be easier to separate them right away, one of his hands pulling on the collar of his shirt while the other pushed the necklace through the hole, the beads falling to the skin of his chest before he assisted Kerr by taking the shirt off further.  There was a single moment where in the cramped space of the dressing room, Ben\'s head and arms were covered while he maneouvred himself into taking the clothing off awkwardly, trying not to stop Kerr\'s attentions upon him.  It would be very easy to pluck the necklace off him at this stage, should Kerr be willing to act fast and take the risk.  There would be no innocent plea to fall back on however.

[Existentially Odd]

A wave of disappointment flowed through Kerr when the necklace was pushed through the shirt and it temporarily stalled his movements, causing him to stare as he fell rapidly into a pit of despair.  His plans never seemed to work out and his expression likely matched his spiralling emotions - until that moment when Ben\'s arms were lifted and his face covered.  He could do it now!

Instinctively, he reached, saying something flippant like, "Nah, take that off too, it\'s ugly," as his hands moved to unclasp the necklace.  His spirits were suddenly soaring, he didn\'t care that it wasn\'t a subtle removal, his motives were still simple and it was a reasonable request made in the heat of the moment (in his head, anyway).  There was also no time for doubt to strike him, he saw the opportunity he\'d been seeking and he took it; the consequences were what he was after, anyway.

[Trillian]

Ben had been careful in his movements not to bump Kerr out of the way or bang a limb into the cubicle wall, but upon hearing the statement made while Kerr fiddled at the clasp around the back of his neck, he became a great deal more erratic, physically opposed to the movement even as he cried out; "NO!"

It was too late, the necklace was easy enough to take off with Kerr\'s celerity and desire to take the thing away from his loved one.  There was a single moment of confusion while Ben was aghast that Kerr would be so addle-brained as to risk Ben\'s \'guardian\' necklace for the sake of a romp in the dressing room, before clarity ensued with the connection that nobody could be so stupid... Kerr had guessed, he knew that Ben wasn\'t Ben.

He took in needless breath and held it, even while throwing the garment off his shoulders and head, letting it fall to the floor even while the necklace slipped off him and into Kerr\'s fingers.  He waited, then waited some more, considered picking up from where the ruse left off before dismissing it.  If Kerr had guessed so quickly that he wasn\'t Ben, it wouldn\'t be long before he realised his plan had failed.

"You knew," he told Kerr, his gaze icy as he looked upon the vampire that was the sire of the body he possessed.  "You used sex to get close to me, to decieve me," he accused now, the tone in his voice revealing indignation.

[Existentially Odd]

"It was hardly sex and consider the deception a debt repaid," he scoffed, his mouth working automatically because his brain was too stunned to be in gear just yet.

Nothing had happened.  No big bang, no fainting, no explosive reaction... just a calm and rather hurt response that was nothing like what Kerr had been braced for.  It took a few moments for the anticipated events to evaporate and the reality of what had happened to assert itself in his addled mind.

Kerr frowned once that happened, glancing at the necklace he was still definitely holding and then back at Ben.  "What\'s going on?" he demanded warily, every part of him coiled, every muscle tensed - for no good reason, it seemed.

[Trillian]

He was quiet for a moment, staring back at Kerr with the same look still stamped on his features.  Yes, the deception was repaid and he had no answer to that.  It hadn\'t been sex but the promise of such was near enough to warrant his protest at being used.  Still, he wouldn\'t discuss it further, not when there was a more pressing question asked.

What was going on, indeed?  Obviously the necklace had created an oppotunity for him when it was placed around Ben\'s neck in the first place, yet denied the return of the original owner\'s consciousness (and even he\'d expected such a thing to happen, though there was no telling what would happen when messing about with magical artefacts that weren\'t properly understood).

"At the apartment, we shall talk," he told Kerr quietly, his gaze dropping from the other\'s frowning face to the necklace he still held in his hands.  He moved to force Kerr out of the cubicle, so he could dress himself, but not before he managed to snatch the necklace out of the other\'s loose grip, making sure to pocket it.  It wasn\'t something he wanted toyed with, despite it not changing things once it slipped off.

[Existentially Odd]

"Yes," Kerr hissed, growing angry in his frustration and lashing out verbally.  He tensed and automatically pushed back against the hands that sought to eject him from the dressing room, causing a moment of pushing and shoving that went nowhere because his brain kicked back in with logic that propelled him forward and out of the little space.

The curtain snapped closed behind him and he pointedly ignored the raised eyebrows and the smirk that the sales assistant threw his way, in favour of staring at his now-empty hands and pacing (without really being aware that he was pacing).  The beads... it was like each bead represented something horrible in his relationship with Ben, but every one of them could be attributed to the being that was inside that dressing cubicle.

Once Ben walked out of the curtain, Kerr pivoted to face him, thumbs still reflexively rubbing against his fingers, remembering the necklace he\'d had in his hands.  Not knowing what was going to be required of him had him merely standing with his eyes narrowed, waiting to see if the NotBen would take the clothes he\'d been trying on up to the counter - in which case Kerr would silently appear at his side to hand over a credit card that would pay for all his purchases - or whether the creature would simply stalk out and head for home, to begin this \'talk\' now - in which case Kerr would keep pace with him and walk him silently back to \'their\' apartment; the sooner they talked, the better.

As stupid as the impulse was, Kerr really hoped that all the clothes that had been tried on would be bought, for he preferred the notion that the demon would wear its own clothes in his beloved\'s body... and leave Ben\'s real clothes for when he came back.

If
WHEN!

[Trillian]

The being that had taken over Ben dressed into an outfit he\'d purchased earlier - a tight fitting sultry outfit with a long leather coat atop it, and gothic lace-up stomping boots on his feet - decided he wouldn\'t forgo the purchase of even more clothing.  His wishes were similar to Kerr\'s in this instance - he desired his own outfits instead of continuing in the nothingness that Ben had preferred.

The purchases were paid for and soon they were on their way.  The walk was made in a silence that was absolute, only the city sounds interrupted their thoughts.  Ben\'s fingers were wrapped around the handles of several bags filled with purchases that tallied thousands of dollars.  He\'d purposefully left behind the original clothing he\'d gone out with in one of the dressing rooms, not foreseeing a desire to wear anything like that again.

He snuck a look at Kerr using the mirror in the elevator that swept them back to the penthouse at the Capital Building, studying the other\'s facial features and entertaining the thought that he could see fumes coming out of the other\'s ears and eyes.  There was to be an interesting conversation ahead.

(Continued back in \'Host\')